The Letter
by xox Steph xox
Summary: Five Years later, Hurley visits Kate with a message that he has been given from someone who visited him... JATE - Set after THE END. One Shot - Written for those at FF. Please Review : xx


Disclaimer :- I don't own LOST (if I did S7 would be starting in the fall!) Or any of the characters – all rights belong to ABC and Darlton.

This is a fic I wrote for the Jaters over at FF who were discussing this scenario. I hope you like it, it's just a rough one-shot and I havn't wrote anything for a while so...

Takes place after "The End" – Jate is Fate M'dears – and thats Canon ;)

-...

She must be insane. But then, she thought, after everything she's been through, to come out the other end totally sane would be incredibly lucky.

She's seen him before, she's certain of it, over the past four years she could've sworn she's seen him watching her, but every time she's looked back there's been no-one there. Only this time he is there, grinning a grin that only he could muster in such strange circumstances. She stands rooted to the spot, groceries in hand, as he walks across the road to greet her.

"Hey Kate" He says

"Hurley?" She asks incredulously

He nods and smiles at her. Dropping the groceries bag to the floor she wraps her arms tightly around him. He chuckles slightly as he hugs her back.

"What are you doing here? The Island-"

"Its still there" he says smiling. She gives him a confused look and he shrugs "Lets just say that I've made my own rules now"

There's a pause as Kate takes this in. She has so many questions but doesn't know where to start. Hurley looks at her, she looks different than she did on the island. Maybe it's the fact that he hasn't seen her in nearly five years, or maybe its simply the obvious pain she carries in her face. Her eyes don't shine like they used to.

"How are you doing Kate?" He asks gently

"Oh im... well... Aaron is great, he's nearly 8 now, he loves school and playing guitar which Claire blames Charlie for; early influences!" She lets out a nervous laugh "And Claire and her mom are so happy to be together and..." She tails off not knowing what else to fill the sentence with.

"But how are you?" He asks

"Im... not so good"

She can feel the tears welling up behind her eyes, and she scolds herself. "No, you promised yourself, stop it". Hurley sees the tears in her eyes and takes a deep breath, knowing that she needs to hear what he can tell her, what he's been hesitant to tell her before.

"It was as you guys were leaving" He starts, his voice beginning to shake the way it always does when he has to talk about that day "It's what saved the island"

Kate nods, she cant trust herself to speak. Her heart is pounding in her chest, she's wanted to hear about this for so long but now she doesn't know if she can handle it.

"We... buried him by the bamboo tree?" He tells her, almost as if he's asking for her approval "I know it's not where the others where but it seemed right"

She nods again, this time squeezing her eyes shut because she knows as soon as she opens them there wont be anything she can do to stop the tears falling.

"He saved us all Kate, its what he was meant to do"

Kate opens her eyes as the tears roll down her cheeks and she looks up at Hurley's friendly face, his eyes wet, reliving the pain that she feels every single day.

"If it was what he was meant to do, why didn't the island save him?"

Hurley pulls her into him, hugging her again, letting her sob into his chest.

"Ben says hi" He says when he can feel her calming down. She lets out a small laugh and pulls away to look at him, tears still glistening in her eyes. "You wouldn't recognise him, he's totally changed, trying to make up for his mistakes or whatever"

"And Rose and Bernard?" She asks wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"They're great, they're living in the house they built, happy just to be..." He stops. _Be together. _

There's a pause as Kate swallows hard, counting in her head, there's more she needs to know, she cant let her emotions get the better of her.

"You've visited me before haven't you?" She asks him

He smiles sheepishly and nods

"So why didn't you speak to me? Or wave or something?"

"Because you weren't ready Kate" He says calmly

"Ready?"

"To see me. To have a real connection to the island again. You needed to grieve, you still do, and having me remind you, to solidify the island for you, that wasn't going to help. You had to let parts of the island fade out of your memory so that you could try to let go"

"Let go?" She asks, not believing what she's hearing "let go? Hurley, I met the love of my life on that island, why would I want any of those memories to fade? What? Maybe because the man I loved most in the world sacrafised himself to get us off that damn island? The last time I saw him was on that cliff, you were there and then he went away with you and just died, and I'm supposed to just let that go?" Her throat burns with the tears "I shouldn't have gone. I should have stayed with him, to be there when he died, to hold his hand, I should have..." She can't finish. The tears are falling fast and hard down her cheeks and her vision is blurred. She looks down and allows the sobs to take over again, her body shaking. Blaming herself again for the mistake that she made all that time ago. She feels a warm hand on her shoulder.

"You had to go Kate"

She looks up and sees the tears on Hurley's cheeks also.

"Your right, you should never let Jack fade away from you but I was there on that cliff. I saw how much it pained him to say goodbye to you, how much he loved you, do you think he would have wanted you stuck on that island? Do you think you would have been able to live with yourself knowing that Aaron would never meet his mom? You had to go Kate"

"You got off though, I should have stayed and got off later"

"No, I got Desmond off because he's immune to the electro-stuff and I'm kinda immortal now, but I would never have been able to get you off."

She takes this in. All this time she'd thought she'd made the worst decision of her life, leaving at the moment she should have stayed and been with him. But had she really had no choice?

"Why are you talking to me now?"

"Sorry?"

"If I wasn't ready before, why am I ready now?"

"I still don't think you are" He says quietly "But I had to come because... the other week I spoke to him"

Her heart skips a beat.

"What?"

"Well, I can kind of, speak to dead people sometimes, and I'd never seen him since he died so I thought maybe it wouldn't work with him, but the other week I was in the caves and there he was."

Kate looks at him, blinking away the tears, focussing now and absorbing every single thing he's saying.

"He told me that he'd been somewhere else, but that he knew you weren't moving on from the island, from what happened"

She inhales sharply – was this real? Was he just trying to comfort her, to freak her out?

Hurley reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

"He gave me a message for you, he told me to write it down in case I messed it up, they never trust me with messages, but he wanted me to give it you, he hoped it might bring you some peace, or help you ..." He didn't have chance to finish, Kate had taken the paper out of his hands and was holding it against her heart, there was no pretence now, she sobbed fiercely as she tried to take in what was happening.

This was Jack. She thought. This piece of paper was him reaching out to her, what she had been waiting for every day for almost five years. Every morning that she dropped Aaron off to school for Claire, remembering how she used to drop him off after having breakfast with Jack. Every day that she drove past St. Sebastian's and she'd scan the doctors in the white coats and scrubs, remembering seeing his scrubs that used to hang in their wardrobe. Every night that she'd pour herself a glass of wine, always getting two glasses out of the cupboard out of habit but never pouring that second glass. Every memory that used to hit her and make her feel like she'd been shot in the heart instead of the shoulder. This letter was the relief she had been aching for.

"Do you want me to leave?" Hurley asked

"No, No just... please just stay ..." She whispered

Her fingers traced the paper, she knew he hadn't written it himself, but she could've sworn she could feel his touch on the surface. Unfolding it gently her eyes scanned the page, taking in everything she could

_Kate_

_There aren't any words meaningful enough to describe how much you mean to me. I have loved you since the day we crashed and you appeared out of that tree and stitched me up. The times I spent with you were the greatest moments of my life. The day you agreed to marry me, I thought all my dreams had come true, but I __knew__ I didn't deserve you. The island knew I had to come back and to save you, the way you have saved me in so many ways. I know you didn't understand it, and maybe you still don't, but one day you will. You have a purpose Kate, I admired you so much for your determination with Claire and Aaron, as if it wasn't enough to save me you were saving my sister and my nephew, our son. There were so many things I wanted to say to you on that cliff, things I should have said to you over and over again since the day I met you, but I knew I couldn't. If I'd have told you that you were the reason for everything I did, I would never have found the strength to leave, and I had to Kate. I had to make it so that you were free to live the life that you deserve. You were an amazing mother, my best friend and my soul mate; don't be afraid to love again. I'll be waiting for you, when you're ready. We'll see each other again. I love you_

"Kate?" Hurley asked as she brought the letter down

"Thank you Hurley" She cried softly

_-.._

Hope you guys liked it :)


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